It goes without saying that Microsoft Project is THE program to use if you need to manage large projects. But what if you need to track and manage smaller projects? Can you do that in Excel? Sure, but life will be easier if you start with a template.
With that in mind, PowerPoint expert Glenna Shaw created a free project plan template that you can use to track projects in Excel. In addition to being a Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for PowerPoint, Glenna is a Project Management Professional (PMP).
To get started, go to the project plan template on Glenna’s SkyDrive. The template is designed for use in the Excel desktop application, so you can ignore the message about unsupported features in the browser. In the message, just click Open in Excel and follow the prompts to save a copy of the template to your own computer.
Once you open the template in Excel, you can use it to:
- Estimate time and costs
- Create a project schedule
- Monitor schedule and budget
- Manage resources and risks
- Document lessons learned
- Create charts for use in presentations and reports
— Anneliese
